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Military Stockpiles: A Life-Insurance Policy in a High-Intensity Conflict?

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Focus Stratégique
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Accroche

The war in Ukraine is a reminder of the place of attrition from high-intensity conflict in European armies that have been cut to the bone after three decades of budget cuts. All European forces have had to reduce their stocks to the bare minimum. As a result, support to Ukraine has meant a significant drain on their operational capabilities. A significant amount of decommissioned systems were also donated, due to the lack of depth in operational fleets.

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C-5 Galaxy strategic airlifters stored at US Air Force Base Davis Monthan, Arizona
C-5 Galaxy strategic airlifters stored at US Air Force Base Davis Monthan, Arizona
US Air Force Staff SGT Perry Aston
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Russia, for its part, has mobilized the vast stocks inherited from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) to support its war effort after the initial failure of its "special military operation". The process of renovating the oldest systems was also increased, while Russian production of modern equipment remained insufficient.
 
The current conflict therefore sees mixed fleets of very modern systems and much older - even obsolete - ones from long-term stocks. This situation prompts us to question the stockpiling strategies of the French armies and to compare them to those that exist elsewhere.
 
> This publication is also available in French: Stocks militaires : une assurance-vie en haute intensité ?
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ISBN / ISSN

979-10-373-0685-2

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Military Stockpiles: A Life-Insurance Policy in a High-Intensity Conflict?

Decoration
Author(s)
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Léo PÉRIA-PEIGNÉ

Léo PÉRIA-PEIGNÉ

Intitulé du poste

Research Fellow, Security Studies Center, Ifri

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 A soldier watching a sunset on an armored infantry fighting vehicle
Security Studies Center
Accroche centre

Heir to a tradition dating back to the founding of Ifri, the Security Studies Center provides public and private decision-makers as well as the general public with the keys to understanding power relations and contemporary modes of conflict as well as those to come. Through its positioning at the juncture of politics and operations, the credibility of its civil-military team and the wide distribution of its publications in French and English, the Center for Security Studies constitutes in the French landscape of think tanks a unique center of research and influence on the national and international defense debate.

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Group of kamkazza combat drones against the background of sky and clouds, top view, 3d rendering. Concept: war in Ukraine, drone attack.
Observatory on Future Conflicts
Accroche centre

The Observatory of Future Conflicts is a research program carried out by the French Institute of International Relations and the Foundation for Strategic Research on behalf of the three army headquarters aimed at studying developments in tensions and armaments at the horizon 2040 in a transversal perspective, taking into account the issues of each army.

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Return to the East: the Russian Threat and the French Pivot to Europe's Eastern Flank

Date de publication
13 June 2024
Accroche

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, has flung Europe’s Eastern flank into a new phase of strategic confrontation. It has had a major effect on France’s position, which was previously somewhat timid, leading it to significantly reinforce its deterrence and defense posture in support of the collective defense of Europe, in the name of strategic solidarity and the protection of its security interests.

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France’s Place Within NATO: Toward a Strategic Aggiornamento?

Date de publication
27 June 2023
Accroche

With a rapidly deteriorating security environment, a chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, internal disputes exploding into public view, and questions being raised about the scope of its security responsibilities, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) seemed to be in dire straits at the time of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

Towards a European Nuclear Deterrent

Date de publication
20 September 2024
Accroche

While major European powers may have to contemplate nuclear deterrence without America, the national flexibility and European financial support required to make it feasible is currently difficult to imagine.

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“At the Other Side of the Hill”: The Benefits and False Promises of Battlefield Transparency

Date de publication
27 May 2024
Accroche

Recent conflicts have highlighted a key characteristic of contemporary warfare, unprecedented in its scale and impact on the conduct of operations: “battlefield transparency”. 

Page image credits
C-5 Galaxy strategic airlifters stored at US Air Force Base Davis Monthan, Arizona
US Air Force Staff SGT Perry Aston

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Military Stockpiles: A Life-Insurance Policy in a High-Intensity Conflict?